Instability on Windows Vista is a problem common to most graphically demanding games. While were taking many steps to better bulletproof SimCity Societies, there are fixes from Microsoft and from graphics card manufacturers that will improve stability in some cases.

Several compatibility and reliability hotfixes have been released for Vista that you might not have. Theyre available at:

Out of the box, Vista also unnecessarily sets aside part of its virtual address space for video memory when running DirectX 9 applications (like SimCity Societies). This causes problems with many games running out of virtual address space (nVidia mentions Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Civilization IV, Company of Heroes, Half-Life 2, The Battle for Middle Earth II, Supreme Commander, and Rainbow Six Vegas, though from anecdotal evidence, its a problem that affects all graphically demanding DirectX 9 games). Since better video cards typically have more memory, youre actually more likely to experience problems on a newer or higher-end system. If youre experiencing instability, and youre running Vista, the following hotfix may alleviate the problem:

Using lower graphics settings may also help. For this hotfix to be effective on a machine with an nVidia GeForce card, you need to be running drivers version 163 or later. You can always find the latest drivers at http://www.nvidia.com.

Finally, ATI acknowledges general stability issues in its X1950 card when running Vista. Our testing suggests there may be other problems with ATI drivers on Vista as well. Should a fix become available, it would be found at ati.amd.com.

Weve also improved stability for everyone, Vista and XP, in the upcoming game update, and were continuing to rigorously investigate the crash reports weve received. There are more improvements yet to come. Even in cases where instability is the result of a faulty driver or an operating system quirk, we can sometimes program a workaround. Thanks so much to those of you that have provided us with detailed reports and responded to our requests for further information; youve been a great help.